Electrical devices typically generate heat during operation due to the flow of electricity through electrical components housed within the device. Electrical components may be damaged if this heat is not removed. Consequently, various cooling methods have been developed to remove heat produced within an electrical device. Some of these methods use natural convection to produce a flow of air through the device to remove heat. For example, the electrical device may have ventilation holes to let hot air flow out of the device and cool air flow into the device.
Other electrical devices use one or more electric fans to produce a flow of air through the device. For example, a typical home computer has a cooling fan to cool the processor. In other systems, several fans may be used to remove heat from within the device. In mission critical systems, such as servers, redundant fans may be provided that are operable to respond when another fan fails, either by initiating operation or by increasing speed.
Several different sizes and types of fans have been used in electrical devices to remove heat. Unfortunately, each of these sizes and types of fans may require their own components for installation. In addition, methods of installing the fans within an electrical device may require numerous parts, such as fasteners. These factors tend to increase the time and expense in designing, manufacturing, and/or operating electrical devices that use fans.